1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, method and program for reading a document to which printing conditions, etc., have been added in the form of machine-readable identification information such as a barcode, and executing print processing based upon conditions that have been set for the image read.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many systems known in the art for printing out images form the printing conditions of the image on part of the print surface as a barcode, analyze the printing conditions, which have been embedded in the barcode, etc., when the document is read, and use these printing conditions in various processing. By way of example, an image printing system has been proposed in which information for an output such as a double-sided printing output or sorted output is appended to a document as a barcode and an output that complies with the embedded settings is delivered when the document is read and output. An advantage of this system is that output settings are easy to make.
In another proposed system (e.g., see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-139158), the storage location of a document file, such as URL, and printing conditions are embedded in a two-dimensional barcode, and printing is performed upon acquiring the print data using the extracted URL.
Meanwhile, multifunction peripherals have become widespread in recent years. A multifunction peripheral is capable of processing, by a single apparatus, not only a print function for printing an image on a print medium such as paper but also multiple functions such as transmitting and storing functions. With such a multifunction peripheral, different settings to be implemented through a plurality of functions may be desired to be registered for an image obtained by reading a certain document. For example, it may be desired to register settings for copying and settings for transmission for the same image.
However, with a conventional multifunction peripheral, in order to implement multiple processing functions with regard to a document that has been read in, it is necessary to individually select settings that are appropriate for each of the individual functions when the document has been read in. For example, when a user who is attempting to transmit a document reads in the document, the user is required to make transmission setting for the document. When a user who is attempted to perform copying reads in the document, the user is required to make copy setting for the document.